PDF (Portable Document Format)

PDF is a fixed-layout document format that looks the same on every device. Learn what makes PDFs large and how to compress, merge, split and convert them.

Type: Document
File extensions: .pdf
MIME type: application/pdf

What is PDF?

PDF was created by Adobe in 1993 and became the open ISO 32000 standard. A PDF contains text, fonts, vector graphics and images laid out exactly as intended, so documents print and display consistently.

Most of a PDF's size usually comes from embedded images and fonts. Compressing a PDF therefore mostly means recompressing its images and removing unused data. PDFs can also be encrypted with a password and permissions.

When to use PDF

Contracts, invoices, forms and CVs
Documents that must print exactly as designed
Archiving and sharing read-only documents

Limitations

Hard to edit compared with word-processor files
Scanned PDFs contain images of text, not selectable text, unless OCR was applied

Compatibility

Opens in every browser and operating system without extra software.

Compared with other formats

JPEG / JPG: Convert PDF pages to JPG to share them as images.

Tools for PDF files

PDF Compressor

Reduce PDF file size by recompressing images and optimizing document structure.

PDF Merger

Combine multiple PDF documents into a single PDF in any order.

PDF Splitter

Split a PDF into single pages or custom page ranges.

PDF to JPG

Render each PDF page as a high-resolution JPG image.

PDF to PNG

Render each PDF page as a lossless PNG image.

PDF Rotator

Rotate all or selected pages of a PDF by 90, 180 or 270 degrees.

PDF Page Extractor

Create a new PDF containing only the pages you select.

PDF Page Deleter

Remove unwanted pages from a PDF document.

PDF Page Reorder

Rearrange the order of pages in a PDF.

PDF Watermark

Stamp text such as CONFIDENTIAL or DRAFT across the pages of a PDF.

PDF Password Protection

Encrypt a PDF with AES-256 so a password is required to open it.

PDF Metadata Viewer

View PDF properties such as title, author, producer, page count, page sizes and encryption.